


Something To Believe In

by RainbowCubes



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-19
Updated: 2014-10-19
Packaged: 2018-02-21 20:09:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2480831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainbowCubes/pseuds/RainbowCubes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inquisitive nine year old Maya Hummel-Anderson has a school project about religion and asks her fathers, Kurt and Blaine what they believe in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something To Believe In

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Klaine Prompt Challenge 2014. All information on the different religions gotten from BBC Bitesize, so I apologise for any inaccuracies!

When the school project was announced, it had never occurred to either of them how passionate nine year old Maya Hummel-Anderson could be. They knew she was inquisitive and experience had taught them just how much she enjoyed learning, but they had never considered religion to be something she would be particularly interested in. They weren’t a religious family. Kurt’s beliefs were still very firmly atheist, and Blaine just didn’t dwell on big questions like that. They would all figure it out eventually, right? But for Maya, everything she learned in her classes was like a shiny new nugget of information that she needed to ask and ask and ask and ask again for even more fun facts and opinions.  
At first they encouraged it. Who doesn’t want to see their kids enjoying school? Her grades had improved astronomically from when she started the academic year at the bottom of the scale. She was able to use her creative skills much more now that she was being set tasks that got her to draw and paint and model. They would constantly ask her questions about what she was doing, their places for her class’ open event were booked over a month in advance and they had even sat through a kids documentary on various holy festivals for her sake.  
The one thing they hadn’t had to do was actually talk to her about their own personal beliefs. 

***  
When Maya first brough up the topic over dinner, Kurt was alone with her and her brother Toby and it had taken him by surprise. The innocent “Papa, do we believe in God?” had caught him off his guard, and his instant response was to distract her with the harsh reminder that she was yet to eat her broccoli. Clearly this was a much more pressing matter, since she hadn’t brought it up again.  
A few weeks later, while Kurt had Toby in the bathroom trying to scrub green paint from his hair, Maya decided to approach Blaine instead. She climbed onto his lap and curled up with him.  
“Daddy, do we believe in God?” she had asked quietly, immediately turning to putty as he started to twirl her wild curls around his fingers.  
Blaine had let out the tiniest of sighs and started braiding her hair instead. It was appropriate given how wound together his thoughts were on what the most age appropriate answer would be. He knew Kurt’s thoughts on religion. He knew that they hadn’t changed since high school, and while he was respectful and appreciative of different beliefs and outlooks, he was still quick to turn and shoot people down if the conversation made him uncomfortable. Blaine’s own beliefs were a little more relaxed. He had grown up in a Catholic family, but his personal stance was simply a casual acceptance for whatever situation he found himself in. He would join in with the prayers his grandparents liked so much, he had fond memories of singing in church as a boy, but adult-Blaine didn’t really care either way. He figured they would all find out eventually so what was the point in causing a scene or worrying the kids with it now?  
Two braids later, he decided on a good answer.  
“I think the important thing to remember is that in this family, religion isn’t a ‘we’ thing. If you have different beliefs than me and Papa, that’s all good. Papa doesn’t believe in God. I don’t think I do really. Your great-grandparents really really do believe in God, and Granddad and Nan do too. See how it’s a little bit different for everyone?” he asked her. She nodded seriously, and in the reflection of the blank TV screen he could see her eyes were wide and focused as her small but impressive mind tried to process the news.  
“But what do I believe in?” she asked after a moment of silence, punctuated only by Toby’s whining about Kurt tugging his hair too hard, and Kurt’s weary reply.  
“You believe in what feels right,” Blaine smiled, leaning his head down to kiss the top of her head. “Why, do you think you want to believe in something?” he asked. She shrugged. “Shall I tell you the sort of thing that I believe in instead of God?” A nod this time, and Blaine could see her start to smile.  
“I believe in kind people. I believe in that family downstairs with the little boy who’s really sick and yet they still smile at everyone. I believe in your Papa when he’s brave when people say mean stuff. I believe in you and Toby when you look out for other children and take care of them,” Blaine said gently. “You’re learning about all sorts of different faiths, right? All of the different kinds?” Maya nodded and shuffled around in his lap so that she could see his face. “Well I’m no expert and you might have to check with Miss Grant, but I think that the things I believe in are there in all different faiths. I just think mine are a little more personal to me, and they focus on the things I know, rather than on things like a God, or miracles. Does that make sense?” he asked.  
Maya giggled and shook her head, giving him a big toothy grin. “I don’t get it, but it sounds nice anyway,” she said, giving him a hug.  
“Why doesn’t Papa believe in God?” she asked after a moment, frowning in concentration as she always did. Blaine pressed his lips together and thought hard again. God, why was this so hard?  
“Papa has his own reasons. That’s what I like about the type of faith that your Papa and I have, is that it’s something personal to us. That’s not to say it’s the only way to follow a religion… not that we’re religious… It’s um… Maya sweetie, it’s so hard to explain what Papa believes in. I think you might be best asking him,” he said, realizing halfway through that he was getting flustered. Why had they never talked about this before? When they found out that Maya’s best friend was Muslim, why did they never consider that she would wonder why they didn’t have the same customs or something similar?  
Maya huffed. “I did ask Papa. He told me to eat my broccoli,” she said petulantly. “I want to know. And I want to know what I have to believe.”  
Blaine smiled at her in sympathy. She liked answers, and she liked instructions. It must have been hard for her, especially since she was so fascinated by the subject.  
“Some people, like Papa, don’t like to talk about what they believe in. And that’s okay, you have to understand that. You can’t make people talk about stuff they don’t want to talk about. But I think it’s also important that you know that you can believe in anything you want to. Pray or not pray to whoever you want to, and read whatever Bible or Quran or whatever other religious books there are. It’s all okay, and I know that Papa and I will support you.” She still looked slightly annoyed at the lack of straight answers, and Blaine could understand why; usually he and Kurt were so in sync that they didn’t hesitate to talk about things like this. They had explained sexuality to her in a heartbeat. When she saw a news report about potential terror threats, they had managed to cover the topic without scaring her. Blaine just couldn’t understand what made this particular topic so difficult.  
“How about this,” he said after watching her clearly struggling to comprehend the whole topic. “I’ll talk to Papa tonight about this, and then you try asking him again when you have your quiet time tomorrow. Does that sound good?”  
Maya pouted at him but she was smiling through it. “Okay, I guess,” she pretended to huff, and Blaine rolled his eyes, reaching down to tickle her tummy and breaking the heavy moment. She dissolved into hysterical giggles and began trying to reach his neck, which always got him squirming.  
As he grabbed her middle and hugged her close, blowing raspberries on the back of her neck and making her shriek with laughter, he congratulated himself on a job well done. 

***  
As Blaine lay in bed that night listening to Kurt singing in the shower, he thought about how to broach the topic with Kurt. Bringing up sensitive topics when they were both in the middle of busy periods at work was never easy. They would either hedge around the topic and avoid it until they were satisfied and never brought it up again, or they would have arguments in hushed tones so that the kids wouldn’t hear. Blaine’s personal preference was to avoid both options and just leave everything to the morning, but he knew that wasn’t possible. Kurt was spending the morning looking after the kids whilst Blaine went to a meeting, and so who knew what kind of questions might come up?  
“You look very ponderful,” Kurt said in a soft voice as he towel dried his hair and pulled on some pyjama pants. “Something up?”  
Blaine shook his head and sat up, holding out his hand to tug Kurt down onto the bed. “Nothing. I was just thinking is all,” he said quietly, pressing his lips to Kurt’s shoulder and kissing him ever so gently.  
Kurt turned his head and gave him a questioning raise of the eyebrows. Blaine smiled to himself. Of course he wouldn’t get off that lightly.  
“About religion. Maya’s project,” he elaborated, and Kurt sighed. He rolled over onto his side of the bed and tucked up his knees, back resting against the headboard as he closed his eyes.  
“I don’t like talking about it,” he mumbled. Blaine mirrored his positioning and pulled the covers up to keep them warm. He hoped it would make things less confrontational. A cold Kurt was an agitated Kurt, he knew that from when their heating broke in their senior year of college.  
Blaine hesitated for a moment before taking Kurt’s hand under the sheets. “Why?” he asked him softly. Kurt turned to look at him and gave him a sad smile.  
“Because I have so little faith. I have such cynical views on religion, you know I do. I can barely manage to keep my mouth shut when your parents start praying at the dinner table and I don’t want to have to admit that I have a bad view of it,” he explained. Blaine shook his head.  
“But I don’t believe in any of that either, not really. I just accept that it makes them happy and let them get on with it,” he said gently. “And I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing that you’re cynical. It’s what you believe and that’s okay. You’re not disrespectful. You don’t laugh or scoff at my parents when they do it. I don’t see why you think it’s anything to be ashamed of.”  
Kurt slowly unlinked their hands and he got out of bed to pull on a cotton t-shirt. “I just think that it’s something they shouldn’t have to think about yet. I mean come on, she’s nine years old. Why does she need to know about things like that? Does it not worry you that she might decide that she wants to be religious, and then we might let her go to church with a friend, and then that friend’s church might tell her that being gay is wrong. That her family is wrong. She’ll either be heartbroken with the church and become even more cynical than I am, or she’ll believe them and hate us.” His voice rose slightly in pitch towards the end and he ducked his head for a moment before ducking behind him and rummaging through his sock drawer.  
“I need some nice warm ones without too much wear,” he muttered, shoving matched pairs aside and ignoring the few that fell out from either side.  
Blaine watched him fumbling around in the drawer for a moment before he saw his shoulders slump, the sign he was done freaking out and would accept a hug. He got out of bed and joined him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and kissing his cheek.  
“That won’t happen,” he said softly. “She loves us because we take care of her and remind her that she’s safe and special. Her going to church and exploring what she believes in won’t change that, you know that deep down. And I know it’s scary and we haven’t had a fantastic experience with people who are religious but there are exceptions. More now than there were when we were younger. Do you not think that we should support the fact that she wants to learn, talk about it with her if she likes and reassure her that we’re always there? No matter what any church she might choose to go to tells her, she’s going to have us there supporting her. That’s what’s important and that’s what she’ll value at the end of the day. And even if I’m wrong, I think it’s important that we support her through whatever she chooses because we’re her parents. It’s our job to do that.”  
Kurt glanced up and rested his head on top of Blaine’s. “You always know what to say and it scares me sometimes, you know that?” he said quietly. “Thank you. I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”  
Blaine nodded and took Kurt’s hand, tugging him back towards the bed and grinning. “Come and cuddle,” he sang, doing a funny backwards dance and climbing under the covers. Kurt burrowed in after him and the two got comfortable, feet tangling together as their breathing slowly synchronised. 

***  
“No, I need the green and pink tissue Papa, not nasty orange!” Maya moaned, huffing as she rifled through her and Toby’s crafting tower. “It has to look nice! Miss Grant said I can put it on display at the event!”  
Kurt ran a hand over his face and glanced over at the mess she was making. He apologised to Toby, who was getting repeatedly flustered over fractions, and went to help her.  
“What are you actually making, Maya? You never said,” Kurt asked her, smoothing out the crumpled paper and placing it back in the drawer. He started flicking through the pile of tissue and brought out a few green and pink pieces for her.  
“It’s a stained glass window. I drew it all myself, and it’s of a candle, but everyone else’s is a boring colour so I wanted mine a bit different so everyone notices it,” Maya said, kneeling by Kurt’s side and helping him now that it was easier.  
“Oh wow, that’s a really good idea. And that way you can find it in the crowd of everyone else’s and you can show me and Daddy at the event too,” Kurt said, handing her a few white pieces alongside some red ones.  
Maya nodded and thanked him quietly, heading to the kitchen table to put her paper in a neat pile, and then gathering everything else she needed. Kurt went back to talking Toby through his fractions, but he couldn’t help but notice his son’s frustration. Blaine was so much better at helping him with this than he was. Kurt was great with their projects, but math was not his strong suit, and Toby knew that.  
“I tell you what buddy, why don’t you go and get your spellings and work on those. Come back to the fractions when you’re not so stressed out, okay?” Kurt suggested, and Toby nodded, getting down from the table and grabbing his backpack. He got to work, whispering the words and enunciating every syllable. “Good boy, that’s a really good way to remember the spellings!” Kurt praised him, and Toby grinned as he carried on working. Maya was focusing very hard on sticking the tissue onto the paper, and Kurt decided to sit between them so that he could help them both.  
“What religion is the window for, sweetheart?” Kurt asked her, watching what she was doing as she reached out for the scissors.  
“Catholicism,” Maya said. “It’s going on the stand that says all about the churches and stuff. It’s nice, but not as colorful as my stand,” she added proudly.  
“And what’s your stand for?” Kurt asked just as Blaine walked through the front door. Kurt blew him a kiss and tilted his head towards Toby. Math? Blaine mouthed, and Kurt nodded, making him pull a face and sit with his son. The two of them talked quietly together, Blaine grabbing a bit of scrap paper and getting Toby to go over what it was they had already done.  
“Mine is for Holi. It’s a Hindu festival and it’s really really colourful and we get to get all messy,” Maya said, looking up at him for a moment to give him an excited grin before turning her attention back to her work. “Maisie is writing the story of Holi, I’m drawing a picture of all of the colours and the people covered in paint, and we’re all learning some of the dances! Ours will be the most fun. I bet Jayden’s one will be really boring. Serves him right for pushing Imogen over.” By the end of her comments she was mumbling to herself, once more immersed in her window. Kurt pressed his lips together to hide his grin and placed a hand on her back.  
“I think I have something you could use that will make the light shine through a bit nicer, shall I try to find it?” Kurt asked, and she nodded, mumbling a soft thanks. He returned a moment later with some cellophane. “See how the light shines through it? Like real stained glass!” Maya looked at it for a long moment before beaming and taking the pile.  
“Thank you Papa!” she said, carefully pulling off all of her tissue paper and getting to work cutting up the cellophane instead.  
They stuck the stained glass picture in the window, and they displayed Toby’s completed spellings written in his neatest writing on the fridge proudly. As Blaine set Toby doing some more fractions and Kurt stood up and started peeling vegetables for the dinner, the house settled into peace. Kurt was no longer worried about what his daughter might think of them, Blaine was satisfied that he and Kurt were on the same page as to their stance, Maya was admiring the light seeping through her window, and Toby was grinning triumphantly when he held up his sheet full of completed fractions. 

***  
“We always arrive too early for these things,” Kurt muttered as they stood in the reception area of the kid’s school. Waiting around for the doors to open was something of a regular thing for them, given Blaine’s desire to take shortcuts how organised the both of them were. Toby was sitting on a couch playing a video game as slowly, other families trickled in and a small hum of small talk started up.  
Exactly on time, the three teachers who took Maya’s year group opened the doors and encouraged the families to look around at all of the stands and to take in all of the wonderful work their children had produced over the last few months. The three of them entered the hall and were taken aback by how vibrant the usually minimalist school gymnasium was.  
“Oh look, there she is!” Blaine said excitedly, pointing at Maya dressed in her plain white outfit that was now covered in multi-coloured paint splodges. She was with two other girls and a tiny dot of a boy, all of them giggling and jumping around excitedly on the stage as they waited to start their pre-rehearsed dance. In another corner of the room, some kids were playing hymns that Blaine recognised from his time in church. A few children were darting through the groups of parents and handing out programmes and information sheets, and the teachers were mingling.  
“Can I go and play with Leila please Daddy?” Toby asked, pouting a little. Blaine glanced over at where a girl he vaguely recognised from pictures of Toby’s class was standing shyly. He nodded and Toby skipped off, leaving Kurt and Blaine to walk around the stalls together. Through the speakers, more music started playing on low so as not to drown out the music being played across the hall.  
“I think this new way of presentation is much better than the old one. It was only the confident kids that got a chance to show off when they did the assemblies. Now even the shy kids can help out and be a part of it without being pushed too far out of their comfort zones. I think it’s great,” Blaine said, and Kurt hummed in agreement as they went towards a stand with a banner on top reading ‘YOU SHOULD COME AND TRY OUR YUMMY FOODS!’. A little girl with her hair in pigtails pushed her glasses up her nose and started reciting some facts that she had learned.  
“What you are eating now is a tagine, with lamb, shallot and date. Not like a person date. Food date. This might be eaten during Eid al-Fitr which is a religious holiday for Muslims. It’s for the end of Ramadan,” the girl said, before taking a minute to think and then nodded, clearly confident she had done a good job. The small crowd that had gathered around them clapped politely and some moved forwards, including Kurt, to try the food.  
“And we all made this ourselves!” a little boy piped up from behind the girl where he was handing out information sheets.  
Kurt looked at Blaine and squeezed his hand. “Don’t you think that this is probably why she’s enjoyed this topic so much? I mean. Maya loves diving in and getting things done. This was perfect for her.” They started walking away and got through a few more stores before a teacher announced that some of the children were about to perform some dances that they had been practicing.  
First, a group of small children who Kurt recognised from the dance club that Maya had to quit the previous year because it clashed with her swimming lessons. They performed a pretty dance to a song about Christianity, which was clearly trying to tell a story although Kurt wasn’t paying too much attention. Instead, he was looking at Maya. She was standing by the side of the stage, the bowl filled with coloured powder balanced in her hands as she bit her lip and glanced nervously around at the crowd of cheering parents. Another group was up next, the music starting as they brought out fans and started to dance. The programme said that Maya’s group was up next.  
“Look at her, she’s scared,” Kurt whispered to Blaine. They both looked at her and managed to catch her eye. She gave them a tight smile and swallowed. They could see her breathing increase and her pose tensed. Kurt went over to her and knelt in front of her.  
“Papa you have to stand with Daddy!” she hissed, but let him hug her anyway. “Go and stand with Daddy or you’ll spoil it!”  
“I know, I will honey, but we both just wanted to tell you how proud we are of you, and how excited we are to see what you and your friends have come up with. We know you’ll be awesome, even if you forget it or something. We know how hard you’ve worked,” Kurt said, and she smiled. It was more natural that time, albeit still nervous. The fan dance finished and she gave him a last hug before pushing him back towards Blaine.  
“She okay?” Blaine whispered, and Kurt nodded.  
“Just nervous I think. I said we were proud of her anyway,” he muttered back as the teacher announced the dance and the people in it. The fast paced, upbeat music started and the group of seven children all started to do their moves and poses, fists filled with the coloured powder that left bright trails all over the stage as it seeped through their tiny fists.  
“Look at her grin!” Blaine cooed, and he was right. Maya, along with the other kids, was beaming proudly as she did the routine, and one of the smaller kids from the other side of the stage let out a little excited laugh. They all moved to the back of the stage, throwing the powder and picking up colored cloth and making shapes in the air with them, their little bodies bending and losing balance with how excited they were, but it didn’t matter. All of the children were clearly loving it.  
The dance finished with a huge round of applause and Maya and another little boy, one who Kurt knew from listening to his daughter talk to be Hindu, stepped forward and waited for the noise to die down.  
“Holi is a Hindu festival that marks the coming of spring. For some it is religious, and for some it is for fun,” the boy began with.  
Maya glanced at her teacher and took a breath before reciting her line. “Holi is a very colourful festival with paint, singing, dancing, bonfires, and roasting different foods.” Kurt nodded slowly at her as Blaine beamed by his side.  
“Sometimes, things like caste, gender, and how old you are can mean that you aren’t allowed to join in with things,” the boy continued. “But in Holi, everyone joins in the celebrations on the street.”  
“They can be throwing or smearing each other with paint, coloured water or powder, like we just did. It is all done in the spirit of celebration,” Maya finished, and then the small group all came forward to take a bow before scampering off stage to chatter excitedly amongst themselves. One final group took to the stage, and when it was done Toby came to join them.  
“What did you think of your sister?” Blaine asked him, bending down to wipe some sauce from around his face. Of course he had found the sweets stand. He had loved stealing the ones that Maya made the other week.  
“She was super good!” Toby said. “I want to do this when I’m nine!” Blaine laughed, and glanced over to see Maya skipping towards them. Kurt scooped her up into a hug and kissed her happily.  
“Oh honey you did so well! And you remembered all your words and the moves! You were amazing!” She blushed with pride before glancing mischeivously at Toby. The two of them in perfect sync raised their fists above their respective parent’s heads and opened them, letting a shower of blue powder land in their hair and on their faces. There was a moment of delay as both Kurt and Blaine blinked quickly to make sure there was no powder in their eyes and the two kids suddenly started to laugh hysterically.  
“You look funny!” Toby squealed, clutching his middle at the sight of his Daddy completely covered in blue except for two white eyes peeking out. Maya laughed too, and soon Blaine’s face cracked. Soon, all four of them were laughing as Kurt reached out and tugged Maya towards him, pretending to wipe his face on her shoulder and making her laugh even harder.  
“Come on,” Blaine said after a while as the crowds started to die down and the event started to come to a close. “We’ll get cleaned up and have some dinner, yes?”  
Both kids nodded and went to say goodbye to their friends as Kurt and Blaine stood up. Their hands found each other’s and each took in the other’s blue face. “You look hot like that,” Blaine teased, and Kurt let out another laugh.  
“It’s nice to see them working together on something, despite the fact that we’re their victims,” Kurt said, glancing around to see Maya being engulfed in hugs from her friends as Toby waved goodbye to their younger siblings who he knew from his own classes.  
“They’re good kids really. Great kids. They’ve both settled in so well here,” Blaine commented. “And they’re such hard workers. We did good.”  
“Yes we did,” Kurt agreed, leaning in to peck Blaine’s cheek and calling the kids over.  
“Can we have something really yummy for dinner Daddy?” Toby asked, taking Blaine’s hand and looking around him at Kurt.  
“Oh I’m sure we can manage that,” Kurt smiled, as Maya took his hand too. “I was thinking maybe…. um… pizza?”  
Both kids cheered and let go, running to the car and shouting for them to hurry up.  
“What happened to the healthy eating campaign?” Blaine asked him, and Kurt rolled his eyes.  
“We have little geniuses. We have to treat them once in a while,” he smiled.  
“I’m assuming that this project turned out a lot better than you thought it would when she started asking questions?” Blaine asked knowingly, and Kurt sighed.  
“Forgive me for being a little cynical. Clearly our children are just too wonderful for us to comprehend,” he said, unlocking the car and helping them into their seats.  
“I guess they are,” Blaine said quietly, smiling lovingly as he watched them both chattering and bragging to each other about how well they had done. They had both done exceptionally well, and their daddies shared a small, proud smile over the centre console, their little prodigies giggling together in a rare moment of peace.


End file.
